Leadership Summit: Session 5

Ok, well, this is a couple of days after the fact, but I thought it would be good to go back over my notes.

During session 5, Michael Porter, a Harvard business professor, gave a talk on how important it is for us to think strategically when it comes to philanthropic efforts. When it comes to business, we have things down to a science, quite literally. We desire to maximize our profits while minimizing cost, and therefore we think very strategically as to how we might accomplish this goal the most effectively and efficiently. Porter's argument was that so often this type of strategic thinking is not applied to our wanting to serve in the community. And so what happens is that what we do is not done efficiently or done with excellence. He spoke of "adding value" to our efforts. We do that in the business world, and how much more important is that in the world of helping those in need? In other words, for our efforts of service and giving to be "worth" anything, we need to think strategically on how to get things done with excellence.

Here are some steps to help along the way:

1.) Have we really clearly defined our goals? What are our goals for this particular endeavor?

2.) What community needs are we going to address? Is more better? No. We probably won't be able to address everything. So we need to pick something and do it. We prefer results, not just activity.

3.) We need a clear strategy on delivering value.

4.) We need alignment in the organization.

**We need a sustainable solution model--something that will meet long term needs.**

Now here are some off-the-cuff notes that I jammed into my notebook. They are really good questions to consider:

Goals-need to be very clearly defined
-obligation to create value
-social benefits per dollar expended
-obligated to use resources well

Worthiness of the cause is NOT the basis for choosing a project
-look at sustainability and commitment to the project
-where can you add the MOST value?
-where can you do the most good with the resources you have available to you?

What does the congregation/community need? What are the most pressing needs?

What organizations are available for these needs? Are they doing this work just fine? Should we just support that organization?

What capabilities/resources/skills/relationships/companies do we have access to? Where can we do more than just giving money and providing unskilled labor? Do we have the resources available to us to give somewhere in a unique way?

***Do too many things and you'll have limited impact!***

Be careful not to underutilize volunteer capabilities

We want to strategically streamline the delivery of our services. This will increase effectiveness and deliver value to our "customer base."

Here's what holds us back

Multiple/Conflicting/Unclear Goals
Personal Preferences and not Value
No Attempt to Measure Performance
Inability to Stop Mediocre Efforts

Wow....again, these are pretty much a copy of my notes. It's a little disorganized, but I felt like I was in college again. There are definitely some good things to consider here.

~

WJS